CONCERNED parents are attending a meeting tonight (Wednesday) at Okehampton College over a plagiarism scandal which will mean an entire cohort of students having to redo their ICT coursework.

Around 130 students in Year 11 are affected after an investigation by exam board OCR found evidence of malpractice in the ‘creating digital graphics’ module of the Level 1/2 Cambridge National Award in Creative iMedia.

In a letter to parents and carers, college principal Derrick Brett said that as a result, all students at the college who took the module in January would have to redo it in June. The investigation continues into how the situation occurred.

‘I write today to inform you that we have received notification from OCR that a “malpractice offence has taken place that has undermined the integrity of the qualification”,’ he wrote to parents on Thursday last week, March 7.

‘This means that OCR are “unable to accept candidates’ work for unit RO82 in the January 2019 series” and subsequently that all students have been awarded zero marks for the unit. I am sorry that this has occurred and assure you that we are determined to redress the situation.

‘We have already acted to rectify issues that our investigation and OCR’s have identified, and are continuing to investigate concerns that have subsequently come to light.’

He said that plans were in progress for students to retake the module in June.

Parents have expressed anger that the dishonest actions of a few have affected all the students, who now face having to redo their coursework at the same time as their GCSE exams. The piece of coursework represents a quarter of the marks towards the qualification.

’Many were in tears,’ said one parent. ‘It is shocking how these children have been treated.’

Mr Brett said: ‘We are currently continuing our investigation, however our priority is to ensure that the students are able to fulfil this aspect of the qualification.’The meeting takes place at the college at 6pm this evening for parents affected by the situation.